Barry Zito
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| Free Agent — No. 75 | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| July 22, 2000 for the Oakland Athletics | |
Barry William Zito (born May 13, 1978, Las Vegas, Nevada) was a starting pitcher with the Oakland Athletics.
A free agent after the 2006 season, Zito is expected to leave the Oakland A's. Speculation lists five front-runners for Zito's services: the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim[1] (due to his affection for the West Coast), the New York Mets[2] (he has a strong relationship with pitching coach Rick Peterson), the Texas Rangers,[3] and the New York Yankees (former A's teamates Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi have made sales pitches).[4]
The Los Angeles Dodgers, originally interested in Zito,[5] appear to have now lost interest.[6]
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[edit] High School
Zito attended University of San Diego High School in San Diego, a Catholic school, where he earned all-league honors in baseball (with an 8-4 record and 105 strikeouts in 85 innings) as a senior and began surfing. In 1995 he earned all-league honors .
[edit] College
He went on to attend the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned Freshman All-America Honors with 123 strikeouts in 85.1 innings.
He transferred to Pierce Junior College where he posted a 2.62 ERA and went 9-2 with 135 strikeouts in 103 innings, and was named to the all-state and all-conference teams.
He then went to USC, where he was a 1st-team All-America selection by USA Today Baseball Weekly, Collegiate Baseball, and Baseball America after going 12-3 with a 3.28 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 113.2 innings, and was named PAC-10 Pitcher of the Year.
[edit] Professional career
He was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 1st round (9th overall) of the 1999 amateur entry draft, and signed for a $1.59 million bonus.
In 2001 he was 3rd in strikeouts/9 IP (8.61), 4th in the league in strikeouts (205), 5th in hit batsmen (13), 6th in wins (17), 8th in ERA (3.49), and 10th in W-L percenatage (.680). Zito became only the sixth lefty aged 23 or younger since 1902 to strike out at least 200 batters in a season.
In 2002, he won the American League Cy Young Award with a 23-5 record, narrowly defeating Pedro Martínez in the voting. He was 1st in the league in wins (23), 2nd in won-lost percentage (.821), and 3rd in ERA (2.75) and strikeouts (182). Martinez, who'd led the AL in ERA, strikeouts, and winning percentage, became the first pitcher since the introduction of the Cy Young Award to lead his league in each of those three statistics, yet not be voted the award.
In 2003 Zito was 7th in the league in ERA (3.30).
In 2004 he was 10th in the league in strikeouts (163).
In 2005 he was 5th in the league in strikeouts (171). He had a streak of 14 consecutive starts (and 20 out of 21) in which he gave up fewer hits than innings pitched.
In 2006 he led the league in batters faced (945) and games started (34), 3rd in the league in innings (221), 8th in wins (16), and 10th in ERA (3.83).
He was named to the American League All-Star Team in 2002, 2003, and 2006.
He is a durable pitcher, throwing 200 or more innings in each of his 6 full major league seasons. He has never missed a scheduled start in his career.
Zito replaced his agent Arn Tellem with the more hard-line Scott Boras in July 2006. Zito was the talk of the 2006 trade deadline, rumored to be headed to the Mets in a potential deal for prospect Lastings Milledge, but A's general manager Billy Beane decided to keep him for the balance of the season.
[edit] Awards
- 1999 - Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year
- 1999 - 1st team College All-American SP
- 1999 - Pac-10 Conference All-Star P
- 2000 - Triple-A All-Star SP
- 2002 - Baseball America First-Team Major League All-Star SP
- 2002 - AL Cy Young Award
- 2002 - MLB All-Star
- 2003 - MLB All-Star
- 2006 - MLB All-Star
[edit] Pitching style
A left-hander, Zito throws an 86-90 mph four-seam fastball, a changeup, a slider, and an excellent "12-6" curveball (whose nicknames include "Captain Hook", "Rip-Curl", and "Bert") that evokes Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. It was voted best curveball in the major leagues in a poll of players conducted by ESPN the Magazine. In mid-2004, Zito started throwing a two-seam fastball, and in 2005, he added a strong slider, or "slurve," to his arsenal. Zito's motion is very fluid and consistent, featuring a high leg kick with a straight over-the-top delivery.
Although not as overpowering as he was in his first two full seasons, Zito is, nonetheless, one of the most polished, reliable pitchers in the game today.
[edit] Personal life
Zito — whose hobbies include yoga, rock guitar and surfing — is known for his idiosyncrasies. His personality has made him a media favorite.
He once made it a practice to buy his own autographed baseball cards on eBay; when asked why he bought them at auction for high prices rather than acquiring unsigned cards and signing them himself, Zito replied, "Because they're authenticated."
Zito carries satin pillows on the road, collects stuffed animals (which he used to travel with), and burns incense to relax.
Many Oakland fans first became aware of Zito when, early in his career, he dyed his hair blue. He has earned the nicknames "Planet Zito" and "Captain Quirk."[7]
He is known for his very simple lifestyle, living in a small apartment with no TV or real furniture (he sits on the lawn chairs that were left on the balcony).
He created the charity Strikeouts for Troops, to which he donates $200 for every strikeout he throws. The charity benefits hospitals for soldiers wounded in military operations.
He is the nephew of television actor Patrick Duffy. He once made an appearance in a JAG episode, portraying a Navy baseball pitcher brought up on charges for hitting a player with a pitch during a game (Zito is not related to JAG producer Stephen A. Zito, however). In 2004, he dated Alyssa Milano.
He is a big fan of musician Ben Folds. He wore a Ben Folds t-shirt at his Cy Young press conference and met Ben after a show in Milwaukee [8]. They both share an interest in songwriting and photography.
In a 2005 interview, Zito told a reporter that he had done uncredited voiceover work for Cartoon Network's show The Venture Bros. [9]
As a child, his favorite football player was Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon. In turn, Zito is now the favorite baseball player of McMahon's son Sean.
[edit] Quotes
- "I'm not trying to be cocky, but I set such a high standard for myself. I'm not happy when I pitch seven innings and give up two runs and get a win.” - Barry Zito
- "I refuse to be molded into some stereotypical ballplayer that has no interests, really, no life, no depth, no intelligence." - Barry Zito
- “There's a part of me that wants to go streak and run outside and jump around and go swim in the ocean and do everything. The other part of me wants to bear down and repeat this kind of performance next year and in the years to come." - Barry Zito
- “He's a smart person who wants to get smarter. And really, how many people can you say that about?” - Teammate Erik Hiljus
- “He's your typical lefthander.” - Former teammate Jason Giambi
- “His curve ball ... it jelly-legs you.” - First baseman Jim Thome
[edit] External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
- Barry Zito at ESPN.com
- Strikeouts For Troops
- Barry Zito at the Internet Movie Database
| Preceded by: Roger Clemens | American League Cy Young Award 2002 | Succeeded by: Roy Halladay |
Categories: 1978 births | Living people | All-Star Futures Game players | Irish-American sportspeople | Italian-American sportspeople | People from Las Vegas | Major league pitchers | Major league players from Nevada | Oakland Athletics players | People from San Diego | Southern Cal Trojans baseball players | University of California, Santa Barbara alumni | 2002 American League All-Stars | 2003 American League All-Stars | 2006 American League All-Stars
